Sunday, June 14, 2015

Greta Migrant Camp families celebrate anniversary

From the Maitland Mercury report:Seven-year-old Maira Kalnins from Latvia was the 50,000th displaced person to arrive at Greta Migrant Camp.
The pretty blonde haired girl was chosen from a ship filled with people to greet the-then Australian immigration minister Arthur Calwell on board a ship at Fremantle, before it sailed to Newcastle.
She delivered a speech she had learned by heart and she was presented with a beautifully dressed doll whose eyes opened and closed and a toy koala.
The now married Mrs Maira Kluina, 73, lives in Turramurra and still has the toy koala.
She will come back to Greta with her brother Inar and sister Sandra, who was born there, for the 66th anniversary celebrations at the camp site this weekend.